It is possible to provide winding material (in particular threads or other elongate goods as yarns, wires or ribbons) by an extrusion process, by a spinning process or by taking the winding material from another bobbin. By means of the winding machine the winding material is wound (in particular on an empty bobbin tube) to a wound package for building a bobbin. In the sense of the present invention a “continuously” fed winding material covers any winding material having a length longer than at least the length of the winding material wound in one single package. After the winding process of a first wound bobbin at the winding machine the bobbin is used for transportation purposes and then at a remote location as a source of the winding material for another process requiring the winding material.
In known winding machines the winding material is fed via one single or a plurality of fixed or movable rolls to a traversing device holding a traversing guide. The traversing guide is controlled for moving with a traversing movement in a traversing direction having an orientation parallel to the spindle axes. By                appropriate choice of the drive velocity of the spindle itself or a pressure roller building a frictional drive for the bobbin and        the velocity of the traversing movement of the traversing guide        as well as dimensioning the maximal displacement of the traversing guide        
different winding patterns, a fixing winding and/or a reserving winding and an oscillating stroke of the traversing guide can be produced during the winding process.
Modern winding machines comprise at least two winding stations with associated spindles for successively and alternating winding bobbins at these winding stations. Here, special attention is to be paid to an automated continuous change from one winding station with a completely wound bobbin (in the following also “first winding station”) to another winding station where the winding process is to be initiated (in the following also “second winding station”). The automated change or transfer requires a transfer of the winding material from the first winding station to the second winding station, the catching and holding of a part of the winding material at the second winding station and the separating or cutting process for the winding material between the two winding station.
Winding machines of a type generally differing from the type of winding machine according to the invention are built with a revolver rotatable around its longitudinal axes (see DE 102 23 484 B4, DE 10 2006 054 980 B4 and DE 26 43 271 A1). The revolver holds a plurality of spindles rotating around their spindle axes. With a rotation of the revolver the spindle axes are additionally rotated around the longitudinal axis of the revolver. For winding machines of this type the bobbins are wound at the same fixed location by moving the first and second winding station successively into this fixed location by a rotation of the revolver. Winding machines basing on the principle of a revolver require separate drives for the traversing device, the traversing guide, the spindles and the revolver. Accordingly, these types of winding machines require an additional drive causing                the need for additional constructive space,        additional costs and        the need for an additional control of the drive for the revolver with a correlation of such control with the control of the other mentioned drives.        
On the other hand winding machines basing on a revolver provide the possibility that the winding material is cut in dependence on the rotation of the revolver for a change from one winding station to another winding station. According to DE 26 43 271 A1 with the rotation of the revolver the winding material is moved and pulled against a cutting blade. Such a possibility for controlling the cutting process is not given for winding machines of the present type with fixed spindle axes.
WO 2008/020070 A1 discloses a winding machine of the inventive type with fixed spindles. These spindles have a parallel orientation. The spindles are driven separately from each other. The two spindles are driven in opposite rotational directions. The winding machine comprises a traversing device fixed at a frame. A traversing guide is guided and driven for a traversing movement in a traversing direction having an orientation parallel to the spindle axes. The winding material is fed via two fixed and a movable roll building a dancer-control. The drive aggregate for driving the spindles is controlled in dependence on a displacement of the movable dancer-roll. After finishing the winding process of the first package in the first winding station it is necessary to manually cut the winding material and to manually wind the free end of the winding material three to five times around the empty bobbin tube. The mentioned manual steps require an operator caring full time for the winding machine and might cause the risk of injuries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,560 discloses a winding machine with two coaxial winding stations. For a change of one winding station to the other a separately controlled and moved transportation element as well as a separate controlled and moved cutting blade for cutting the winding material is used.
EP 0 018 577 discloses a winding machine comprising two winding stations. The winding material is transferred by a separately controlled and moved transportation element to a redirecting hook which is located close to the spindle axis of an empty bobbin tube. The spindle comprises a catching device used for transferring the winding material from the redirection hook to the empty bobbin tube. The traversing device disclosed in this document comprises only one degree of freedom for the traversing movement of the traversing guide.
DE 20 37 282 C3 discloses a winding machine for a winding material built by a wire. For the disclosed embodiment the traversing device both comprises a degree of freedom for a traversing movement parallel to the spindle axes as well as an additional degree of freedom transverse to the spindle axes used for transferring the winding material from a first winding station to a second winding station. The winding material is caught by a clamping and cutting device. For catching the winding material according to one embodiment a roll or bolt is moved out for redirecting the winding material versus the clamping and cutting device. For another embodiment the document discloses the provision of the spindles with an additional degree of freedom along the spindle axes. For this embodiment the catching process of the winding material is controlled by axially displacing the spindles along their additional degree of freedom.
Document DE 37 34 478 C2 discloses the use of a cutting blade moved by a magnet for cutting the winding material during the change of the winding process from one winding station to another.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved winding machine comprising spindles with fixed axes.
Another object of the present invention is to ease an automated change of the winding station for a continuously fed winding material.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to increase the process reliability, the process safety and/or the process stability.
Another object of the present invention to provide an improved method for the control of a winding machine.